Disposable dispensing packets or portion control items are in widespread use in food service systems such as restaurants, fast-food and carry-out establishments, hospitals, institutions, and the like. Such disposable dispensing packets are constructed of a low-cost material, such as paper and/or plastic, and contain a normal individual serving of condiments, such as salt, pepper, sugar, sugar substitute, salt substitute or the like. The particular number and combination of packets will vary from meal to meal and whether or not an individual is under special diet restrictions, such as patients in hospitals or institutions, whereby the condiments placed on their meal tray are controlled by the particular dietary program prescribed. For example, patients in hospitals and other institutions may be subject to dietary programs which provide a salt-free or sugar-free diet in lieu of normal diets, whereby salt substitutes and sugar substitutes, respectively, are placed on the patient's tray. To facilitate the dispensing of appropriate diets for various patients, color-coding systems have been adopted for each particular diet to increase the speed and efficiency in meal services as well as assuring the correct diet for each individual.
It has been customary to assemble the desired number and combination of disposable packets in an envelope which may additionally contain supplemental eating utensils, such as plastic forks, knives, spoons, napkins, drinking tubes, and the like, to facilitate handling by food service personnel. The envelopes ordinarily are of a transparent material, such as cellophane, to enable visual inspection of the contents of each envelope.
While dispensing systems of the foregoing type have found widespread acceptance in many meal service operations, there has been an increasing need for assemblies of portion control items which still further facilitate meal service handling operations, which are of relatively low cost, and which assure that the proper type and combination of disposable packets have been dispensed. The apparatus and process of the present invention overcomes many of the disadvantages of prior art systems in providing an assembly of interconnected packets which can be quickly and simply separated by the ultimate user at the time of use for dispensing the contents thereof. The interconnected packet assembly further assures the correct combination of packets for a particular meal or dietary program, facilitates handling due to its unitary structure and further prevents inadvertent loss of individual packets during the food serving operation. The interconnected nature of the packet assembly obviates the necessity, in most instances, of employing a separate envelope and the manner of producing the packets provides for further economies due to its simplicity, adaptation to high-speed mass production techniques, efficiency and optimum utilization of raw materials.